Keyed zither.



L. JOST.

KEYED ZITHER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 19. 1915.

Patented Mar. 21, 1916.

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LAWRENCE JOS'I, OF NORTH BERGEN, NEW JERSEY.

KEYED ZITHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 21, 1916.

Application filed January 19, 1915. Serial No. 3,074.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE Jos'r, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of North Bergen, in the county ofv Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Keyed Zither, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description..

The invention relates to zithers and similar musicalv instruments having pairs of melody strings and groups of accompaniment strings for playing different chords.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved keyed zither, which is very simple and durable in construction, easily manipulated and arranged to enable the player, to conveniently actuate the spring hammers for sounding the melody strings.

In order to producethe desired result use is made of a support attached to the body or frame of the zither and provided with a top rail extending transversely of the zither strings at the front thereof, a series or spring hammers one for each pair of melody strings attached to the front of the support, and buttons resting on the said spring hammers intermediate their ends and having shanks extending upwardly, the shanks being mounted to slide in said rail and projecting beyond the top of the rail,

the said buttons being adapted to abut against the under side of the rail to limit the upward movement of the buttons and to hold the spring hammers normally under a slight tension.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the keyed zither; Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross section of the same on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view of the same on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

()ver the resonating body A of a zither of usual construction is stretched an open scale of melody strings B and accompaniment strings C grouped into chords. To the front end of the body A is secured a support D having a bottom rail E cut out at the inner face for the passage of the front ends of the strings B and C as well as the pins B to which the front ends of the strings are secured. T 0 the front face of this rail E shank H extending vertically and slidingly engaginga top rail I forming part of the support D. The upper ends of the stems H project above the upper surface of the top rail I so that the said upper terminal of the stems can be readily pressed downward by the fingers of the players with a view to cause a downward movement of the buttons H and a downward swinging of the corresponding spring hammers G. Normallythe buttons H rest with their upper surfaces on the under side of a felt stop J glued or otherwise secured to the under side of the top rail'I.

By reference to Fig; 2 it will be noticed that the spring hammers G normally hold the buttons H and their stems H in uppermost position with the hammer heads G remote from the corresponding melody strings B; but when the player presses the stem H downward then the button H moving in a like direction imparts a downward swinging motion to the corresponding spring hammer G to engage the head G thereof with the corresponding string 13 to sound the latter. When it is desired to cause the hammer head G to sound its string B but once, the operator quickly releases the stem H so that thespring hammer G returns'by its own resiliency and the head G moves out of contact with the string B and the hammer also returns the button H and its stem H to normal uppermost position. IVhen it is desired to produce a tremolo efiect the player presses the stem H downward and holds the same temporarily down so that the spring hammer G rebounds on the button H and its head G sounds the corresponding string B a number of times to produce a tremolo effect.

A hood K is attached to the inner edge of the top rail I and projects over the series of spring hammers G so that the latter are protected. The under side of the hood K is preferably provided near its rear end with preferably printed or otherwise produced on the upper surface of the hood K in alinement with the strings B and the upper ends of the stems H so that the player can readily pick out the stems to be pressed according to the music to be produced.

The action shown and described can be readily attached to zithers as now generally constructed as it is only necessary to fasten the support I) in position on the body A of the instrument.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The combination with a stringed musical instrument of a support attached to the instrument at the front end thereof and having a top and a bottom rail extending across the strings of the instrument, a series of spring hammers above the strings, means for attaching the front ends of the said spring hammers tothe said bottom rail the said hammers extending from the said bottom' rail in an upward and rearward direction, and buttons resting on the said spring hammers intermediate their ends, th said buttons having vertical stems slidably mounted in the said top rail and projecting above the same, the said buttons normally abutting the under side of the said top rail.

2. The combination with a stringed musical instrument of a support attached to the instrument at the front end thereof and having a top and a bottom rail extending across the strings of the instrument, a series of spring hammers above the strings, means for attaching the front ends of the said spring hammers to the said bottom rail, the said hammers extending from the said bottom rail in an upward and rearward direction, buttons resting on the said spring hammers intermediate their ends, the said buttons having vertical stems slidably mounted in the said toprail and projecting above the same, and a felt stop on the under side of the said top rail for the buttons to abut against.

3. The combination with a stringed mu sical instrument of a support attached to the instrument at the front end thereof and having a top and a bottom rail extendingacross the strings of the instrument, a series of spring hammers above the strings, means for attaching the front ends of the said spring'hammers to the said bottom rail, the said hammers extending from the said bottom rail in an upward and rearward direction, buttons resting on the said spring hammers intermediate their ends, the said buttons the said top rail and extending over the raid spring hammers, the under side of the hoodhaving a soft'stop for the heads of the said spring hammers to abut against. D

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents; Washington. I). (1.

having vertical stems slidably mounted in thesaid top rail and projecting? above the same, the said buttons normallyf abutting against the under side of thesaidtop rail, and aprotecting hood attached to 

